Methods and apparatus for prepaid card packaging

Abstract

Techniques for providing cost effective and tamper evident prepaid card packaging are described. By containing a relatively wide glued area by gluing two relatively tin side panels together, the resulting package is highly resistant to being slit open on an edge without the effort to open the package being highly evident. A foldover magnetic stripe panel provides additional thickness to a portion of the package typically read by a magnetic strip reader while allowing very thin side panels.

I claim: 
     
       1. A tamper evident card carrier comprising:
 a first panel having an inside face having an area reserved for a product literature insert on the inside face; 
 a second panel having an inside face having an area reserved for a card located within a no glue region on the inside face; 
 a gift card attached to the area reserved for a card; and 
 a wide glue area between the no glue area and the edges of the second panel. 
 
     
     
       2. The tamper evident card carrier of  claim 1  wherein the wide glue area is at least 0.5″ wide. 
     
     
       3. The tamper evident card carrier of  claim 1  wherein a gift card is attached to the area for a card with fugitive glue; and
 a product literature insert is attached to the area for a product literature insert. 
 
     
     
       4. The tamper evident card carrier of  claim 3  wherein glue is applied to the wide glue area, the inside face of the first panel and the inside face of the second panel are placed against each other, and the glue is activated to form a tamper evident seal which is at least 0.5″ wide on all four sides of the tamper evident card carrier. 
     
     
       5. The tamper evident card carrier of  claim 1  wherein the first panel is a material having a thickness ranging from 0.006″−0.016″. 
     
     
       6. The tamper evident card carrier of  claim 1  wherein the second panel is a material having a thickness varying from 0.006″-0.016″. 
     
     
       7. The tamper evident card carrier of  claim 1  wherein the second panel has a magnetic stripe. 
     
     
       8. The tamper evident card carrier of  claim 7  wherein the magnetic stripe is formed on a flap extending from a bottom edge of the second panel and the flap is folded about a fold line and glued to the back of the second panel. 
     
     
       9. The tamper evident card carrier of  claim 8  wherein the bi-panel is 8 point paper and the flap is approximately 0.75″ wide. 
     
     
       10. The tamper evident card carrier of  claim 1  further comprising a bar code or a magnetic stripe on an outside face of either the first or second panel. 
     
     
       11. A method for making a tamper evident card carrier comprising:
 forming said carrier from a first panel and a second panel, the first panel having an area reserved for a product literature insert on an inside face and the second panel having an area reserved for a card located within a no glue region on an inside face; and 
 a wide glue area between the no glue area and the edges of the second panel. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 applying glue to the wide glue area which is at least 0.5″ wide. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 gluing a gift card to the area for a card with fugitive glue; and 
 gluing a product literature insert to the area for a product literature insert with fugitive glue. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13  further comprising:
 applying glue to the wide glue area; 
 placing the inside face of the first panel and the inside face of the second panel against each other; and 
 activating the glue to form a tamper evident seal which is at least 5″ wide. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 11  wherein the first panel is a material having a thickness ranging from 0.006″−0.016″. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 11  wherein the second panel is a material having a thickness ranging from 0.006″-0.016″. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 forming a magnetic stripe on a flap on the second panel. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17  wherein the flap extends from a bottom edge of the second panel and further comprising:
 folding the flap about a fold line; and 
 gluing the flap to the back of the second panel. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18  wherein the second panel is 8 point paper and the flap is approximately 0.75″ wide. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 forming a bar code or a magnetic stripe on an outside face of either the first or second panel.